Alize Cornet booked her spot in the second round of the Bett1 Open in Berlin on Monday, beating the 19-year-old American Amanda Anisimova in convincing fashion 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 15 minutes in Steffi Graff Stadium.
” I was comfortable today because I arrived early to play qualifying on Wednesday and it gave me four whole days to get back to grass and get used to it, and I think it really helped. Today I was really willing to play and really happy to be on this surface that I missed for two years, so I enjoyed it a lot”.
Both players were playing their first match on grass and it was the Nice native who got out to a quick start, holding her opening service game and being aggressive early, thus earning three chances to break.
She took an early 2-0 lead and managed to turn it into a 4-0 one. The American was struggling to get anything going until 5-1, when she started to push back and got one of the breaks back with a forehand return up the line. At 5-3, the world number 79 kept fighting to stay in the first set but fell short, as it took five set points before the 31-year-old could wrap up the first set.
Once again it was the world number 63 who got off to a better start, getting the early break and consolidating it to take a 3-1 lead. She continued to push even harder, and after several attempts managed to get a double break in the second set as well.
She would seal the match on her third match to set up a date with the world number seven, the Canadian Bianca Andreescu. In her post-match press conference, she gave her thoughts on the second-round matchup.
“We have never played before and I’m curious to play her because I have seen her play on tv many times and obviously she’s a great champion already for her young age, grand slam winner and top 10 for three years already so she’s a great player but it’s her first match on grass and it will be my second so I might have more practice behind me and everything is possible, I am going to believe in myself and try to play as solid as today and well see”.
There were three other first round matches on day one of the Bett 1 Open, starting off with the battle of the Russians in which Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Belinda Bencic, the fifth seed, was pushed to the limit as she needed three sets to beat the German Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In the last encounter of the day, Madison Keys notched her first win of the year on grass beating the Pole Magdalena Frech in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second round encounter with the number one seed Aryna Sabalenka.
